Red Sox’ Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom addressed a number of questions about the offseason moves they have (and haven’t) made so far this winter, per the reporters present, including Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, and the Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. The call was prompted by the club’s recent (and rare) transaction with their chief rival. Bloom noted that they looked “under the hood” at Adam Ottavino’s 2020 numbers and believe the assumption of his poor performance in 2020 may be misguided. In particular, he notes one particularly poor outing against the Blue Jays in which he surrendered six earned runs without recording an out. Take out that September 7th appearance, and Ottavino’s ERA drops from 5.89 to 2.95. Of course, that outing did happen. Even so, there’s a positive read in Ottavino’s 2020 stat line: 3.52 FIP, 3.62 SIERA, 29.4 percent strikeout rate, and 10.6 percent walk rate suggest the right-hander was close to the same guy he ’d been in 2019, when he formed an important part of the Yankees’ bullpen. Ottavino figures to play a heavy role in the back-end of Boston’s bullpen, though the dispersal of responsibilities between Ottavino and incumbent closer Matt Barnes is TBD. More from Bloom…
- The Yankees moved Ottavino to trim enough salary to duck the $210MM luxury tax line, but according to Bloom, it’s not a foregone conclusion that the Red Sox will do the same. With Ottavino in the fold, the Red Sox luxury tax payroll appears to be around $206MM, which certainly doesn’t leave very much room to spare. While the plan is to avoid the tax, that’s not a firm mandate, Bloom notes.
- Even taking Bloom at his word, it’s hard to imagine the Red Sox going over the luxury tax when so many teams these days work so diligently to avoid it – especially in a season where the Red Sox are largely projected to be an afterthought to the Rays, Yankees, and Blue Jays in the AL East. The Red Sox aren’t probably quite as quick to write off their 2021 season, of course. Still, it’s fair to wonder if they have the funds remaining to bring back Jackie Bradley Jr. The team remains in contact with Bradley, however, and plans to do so “until his free agency resolves.” Though your read may differ, Bloom’s passive word choice doesn’t project the picture of an aggressive forthcoming attempt to woo Bradley back to Fenway, despite his point here being that a reunion remains possible.
that the Sox are so close and still dont project to be that great is…concerning to say the least.
I was just thinking the same thing… for whatever reason I felt like they were in the 150M range and just being cheap. Nope they are just over priced and bad lol
80 million to Sale, Pedroia, JD and Eovaldi doesn’t help the cause much.
Does the Pedroria deal end after this season? And is there buyouts?
Buyouts still count. Recognize the value Pedroia gave the team until the injury and realize if he held out for every last dollar when the deal was struck, the 2018 roster might have looked different. For 2021, signing JBJ might hinge on trading AB for prospects.
Pedroria and Manny Ramirez still have $2 million a year deferred on the books. I think this is Mannys last year.
You also have the money they are eating for David Price.
They are two years away from a lot of payroll coming off so get a chair, get comfy and bring a drink. The Red Sox will be the straw for the drink because they are going to SUCK.
I’d rather keep AB than bring back JBJ
Me too
AB is overpriced at $6m and unless he shows his past potential might get released after 21. His traceable value might be low but could soon be zero. I hope I’m wrong but I just don’t believe he’ll ever reach his 2017 hype.
Not so fast…the real issue is Pedroia being on the 40 Man roster. If the Red Sox can work out a payoff and remove him from the 40 man and designate him…his salary does not count. ie.. Rusney Castillo.
Only differce with Castillo is they took him off the 40 man.. designated him and there he stayed in AAA. With none of his remaining (approximately $10M yearly) salary counting towards the MLB salary calculations.
Look it up.
As long as pedroia is off of the 40 man roster he doesn’t count toward the cap. So when he’s on the 60 day dl he doesn’t count toward the cap
It counts. I know this from Ellsbury counting against the CBT when he was on the 60 day IL.
That’s not true. His salary does count toward the luxury tax no matter which IL he’s on.
Yeah 123RedSox that’s not right. He will count towards their payroll if he’s placed on the 60-day IL or if he’s released via buyout agreement.
He’s thinking of the luxury tax games they played with Castillo, where he was off the 40 man in AAA and wasn’t part of the tax.
But that’s totally different than him being off 40 man because of the 60 day IL. At the end of the year if he’s on the IL, he needs a 40 man spot again. Castillo wasn’t put back on the 40 after 2017 or whatever
Castillo was grandfathered in as when the rule changed he was at that moment in the minors and not on the 40.
Price
They are walking the line between being competitive and building for the future.
I think everyone knows this isn’t a bad squad, but also one that isn’t competing for championships. So their options would be to either blow it all up, or to thread the needle between building the farm and staying competitive, similar to what the Yankees did in 2014-2016 ish
but it amazes that they put in such effort to get under last offseason and still are only under by a bit.
Well, the point is they are under it. They were under last year to reset penalties and id imagine will be under this year too (I don’t buy they go over it).
Dombrowski left them in an awkward financial position, so it’s going to be a couple years for them to really have a clean/healthy payroll outlook
That is because they overpaid for 3 decent but not great additions. at least these guys are MLBers unlike the garbage Bloom fed us last season.
Darkside, look at what the payroll was like when Bloom arrived. They went from a win at all mentality to a let’s get under the threshold and look towards the future objective. The 18 championship bought the team time to consider longer term moves. Add in the pandemic and you see where the team is at. I believe NESN saved or cost the fans depending on one’s perspective as the team cannot truly rebuild as eyeballs will leave big time if the product is not watchable. Look at this last season and go back to 14 and 15.
Don’t blame only DD who did exactly what ownership asked of him.
If anyone is wondering why teams shouldn’t ever go over the tax for their fans you should listen to Redsox fans this year or last year. Just type Redsox, cheap, stupid fan takes in the search bar you’ll find perfect examples of why teams shouldn’t go over. Couple terrible takes below here for some good examples of why teams shouldn’t go over.
It’s hard to not call these people ignorant but I’ll ask this. If you didn’t want Betts traded away. How else would Redsox get below the tax? If you say they shouldn’t be below the tax hopefully your good with the team being dead last for a decade because the team lost draft picks for years lol.
the tax somehow isnt tangible enough for people. they dont get why it should be prohibitive. with a better knowledge of how prohibitive it can be the Betts trade is actually a masterstroke.
Exactly. Ignorant people pretending to know something they don’t understand and instead shouting the owners are cheap.
Penalties also come in to play after going over so many times. Losing draft picks and pool money are real issues with competitiveness.
Betts chose to leave. He was a marketer who had a golden product (himself) and the real question to me is the comparison between the first deal that was voided and the deal the team eventually got, I realize it’s a small sample size but potentially five years of AV alone seems like a steal for Boston (again if you assume Betts was a goner at the end of 20). Price and half his salary was then traded for Downs and Wong. Not a bad separate deal.
The penalties simply aren’t that bad if a team is less than $40M over the threshold. Draft picks only get moved down ten spots, not taken away, if a team is $40M or more over the threshold.
If a team is less than $20M over the threshold they are only paying a 50% max penalty (after three years). $10M just isn’t that much.
Sure the $20-40M range adds an additional 12% fee. But even that’s not much of a hindrance to the largest teams. Exceeding by $40M+ is where teams actually get killed for exceeding the threshold.
m.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/competitive-balanc…
Funny, I could have sworn they traded Betts.. Live and learn.. hahahahahaha
What’s killing the Red Sox is the $16mm owed to Price. Free of that, they can spend. They need to do what they’re doing, tread water, build the farm, and hoard prospects. Red Sox always come back, it’s what they do…
What killed the Sox last year is exactly what has them projected to have another season of missing the playoffs this year, Sale needing TJ surgery and being out. If NY had Cole go down needing TJ surgery this March their outlook for this year and into next would be similarly as bleak. Add in losing their #2 starter like the Sox had the misfortune of last year and welcome to the basement of the division. Why people pretend it’s more than that I don’t know.
Nobody should sleep on the Red Sox. They just got Ottavino basically for free, E-Rod is back, Richards wasn’t a horrible signing. If they get Sale back and they are over .500 when they do, they could be making noise. They still have the bats to hang with anyone.
Obviously you weren’t a fan before the 2000’s rolled around.. They sucked and still sucked when they made the playoffs..
I wonder what the chances are that the Sox go over the tax to snag a player like Ozuna? Maybe they can swing a trade for Beni and Pedroia shocks us all by retiring.
Given where the RS are currently at on a predictive win curve, they should probably stay under.
Zero chance
Why on earth would the Redsox go over the tax? And why on earth would they sign a player like Ozuna? They should recreate the show kids say the darnest things, but instead fans say the dumbest things.
2023 is the year that Boston’s payroll situation really clears up. While Pedey’s $12M comes off the books this year, Eovaldi, JDM & David Price all come off the books at the end of the 2022 season, so 2023 is a year to look forward to. Hopefully, some of their younger players like Dalbec, Downs, Duran, Houck, Mata & Casas will all be key contributors to the 2023 season at low salaries. That will allow the Sox to make some big moves in Free Agency or the trade market. The other thing to consider is that Devers & Verdugo will require big raises for 2023 and Boston will need to decide at the end of this year if they want to re-sign E-Rod to a sizable FA deal as well. So while the payroll does clear up in 2023, they will still have some highly compensated players on the roster in Sale, E-Rod (hopefully), Xander, Devers & Duggie.
I can remember when fans were worried JDM would opt out.
Xander can also opt out in 22. Big market club will always have a big payroll. We don’t know what COVID will do to the tax levels in the next CBA. We expect a vaccine will allow a return to normalcy but that’s not a given and some teams may decide to be careful when budgeting. Will Toronto and San Diego become big sellers if they somehow collapse and there are still no fans in the seats? Hate being negative but their aggressive 2020 offseason approach could have negative ramifications.
I actually think the Red Sox will end up winning the Ottavino trade, as I think he is still a really good reliever. But I don’t understand why the Red Sox want to help the Yankees stay under the luxury tax. It seems to me that they shouldn’t be trying to help the Yankees.
They aren’t helping the Yankees do anything. If they hadn’t made this trade the Yankees would just find another way to duck the luxury tax.
Because it was a twofer for basically cash.
Cost/benefit analysis. Their “help the Yankees” would have been achieved no matter what. Someone would have taken Ottavino. But Boston now gets a piece it can flip at the deadline+ another young pitcher
It’s really Boston helping Boston, using the Yankees to their advantage
And it’s under the assumption that the team won’t be very good.
dan55 The move benefits both teams. The Yankees get off some salary, and the Red Sox gain a potential bullpen upgrade who they can also flip for prospects at the deadline if they are right about him. They aren’t just helping the Yankees, they are helping themselves return to contention.
I think the Red Sox are just compiling long term assets at this point. Getting prospects and players to flip for prospects. Ottavino should bounce back as he is in a contract year.
It’s simple:
1) They believe Ottavino can help the team this year overall
2) As a subset, they believe he can help against the Yankees RH’d hitters
3) He becomes trade material if they’re out of it at mid-season and he’s rebounded, allowing them to snag another prospect
4) And this might be the most important one, they really like Frank German and project him forward as either a rotation member or a valuable bullpen piece
Collectively, they’ve assessed their get as worth the money they’ll spend.
The question to ask is not why the Red Sox are “helping” the Yankees (they’re not), the question is what do the Red Sox see in this acquisition. From the Yankees side, they simply took the best financial deal they could find, and they included a legitimate prospect. You won’t see trades like this happen often between these two teams.
Grand salami, Rob! You nailed all 4 points out of the park.
who cares about “helping the Yankees” in a year where they probably wolnt compete themselves anyway?
Bloom helped Cashman out and I’m sure he’ll help Bloom one day.
Not helping NYY; helping ourselves.. Ottavino was basically given away (w/salary of course) with a prospect who’s now in our top 25. Oh, and we’re still under the luxury tax threshold. All they have to do now is find a trade partner for Benny and we could go into the season with this roster and have a little bit (maybe 8 million or so) left for in-season contingencies.
Hi TC,
Can you fix the sentence/grammer of the word ‘he ‘d between ‘same guy’ & ‘been in 2019’?
“Even so, there’s a positive read in Ottavino’s 2020 stat line: 3.52 FIP, 3.62 SIERA, 29.4 percent strikeout rate, and 10.6 percent walk rate suggest the right-hander was close to the same guy ‘he ’d’ been in 2019”,
You sir are the hero we need.
Do grammar and spelling mistakes really bother you? I’m just asking out of curiosity. I would assume the majority of people don’t care as long as they can understand what they’re reading. I’m sorry for asking, it is just something I don’t understand.
Lol Josip even corrects his SO (see what I did there) grammar when they’re in the sack…
Grammar and spelling are the “hobgoblins ” of small minds.
Or are they? Harping on spelling and grammar when you’ve got nothing else to add, or have had your opinion KO’d, is when they’re hobgoblins.. Outside of that it used to be proper and used to identify someone who has learned something (ie… Not small minded at all)..
Watch out, we got another member of the grammar police. I love these guys, keyboard tyrants, saving the world from spelling mistakes one silly mlbtr post at a time. Keep up the good work bro!!!
This is funny because Grammer is a name. You meant to say “grammar.”
Suddenly the luxury tax is a casual matter in Boston? Bizarre. The Tampa Red Sox finish a distant fourth in the AL East.
No reason to go over if they’re not going to compete for the WS. Makes a lot of sense to duck under to reset the penalty so they can go for it when the time is right.
As a life long Sox fan, the casual acceptance of trading Betts and not competing is stunning. At this point someone will again explain to me, as if I’m misunderstanding, the nature of the Betts trade and functioning of the luxury tax. Yup, got it. I’ll say it again, the casual acceptance of trading Betts and not competing is stunning.
And this is the price of doing business with Dave Dombrowski. Flags do fly forever but the aftermath will be painful.
They could have had the flag and kept Betts if they didn’t invest heavily in other areas. Was Nathan Eovaldi with a $17M AAV worth it if he was going to eat into the money required to keep Betts? They needed to project payroll forward and decide what they could afford and what they couldn’t to keep Betts in play. This may not be a DD issue. It could be, and likely is, a Henry issue. He should have told DD where the payroll is going, and that he wanted to keep all options open with Betts, and to work around it.
The Yankees right now are not planning to trade Aaron Judge. He’s not Mookie Betts, but even playing 120 games he’s one of the more valuable players in the game and he’s the face of the Yankees franchise. They know he has a payday coming. They’re purposely managing their payroll this year to get under the luxury tax threshold so they can go above next year and have the flexibility to make a strong offer for their guy, among other players. That is where the Red Sox can be faulted. They got their flag, but they paid a dear price in losing Betts and not building a sustainable winning team. A little better planning and they may have been able to avoid this.
Well said, Rob.
Rob, the Yankees are heading for a CBT disaster themselves. They have too many long term contracts in Stanton, Cole, Hicks, DJL and have some very important players like Judge & Torres who are going to be FAs sooner than later, not to mention their other ARB guys getting closer to FA too. Unless the new CBA does away with the CBT altogether or moves the first level up to $250M, the Yankees are going to have to either let some of their key players leave via FA or decide to pay the CBT penalties and accept the draft penalties that come along with that. They are basically the opposite of Boston right now. Boston’s payroll issues clear up in 2023. NY’s payroll issues are ‘clear’ now but come 2023, they are going to have to make some really tough decisions. I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes down to signing either Torres or Judge and not both. Sanchez is as good as gone too, even if he bounces back this year. The Yankees need to stay below the CBT this year to clear the penalties and really go for it all in 2022. After that, it’s going to be very difficult to keep their core together.
The problem was created because they tried to repeat in ‘19, resigning Eovaldi and giving Sale the big extension, which put them in a bind. I think they still had the financial flexibility to re-sign Betts,. But when the current work out an extension they knew there was no guarantee of keeping him, they decided to make the trade and take another run at him in free agency. But when the virus hit, and Mookie realized $400m (which I think was his asking price for an extension with the Sox) was out the window, he took the bird in hand deal with the Dodgers.
Before the trade and before the pandemic, I don’t there’s any chance he would have taken the same deal from the Sox. We’ll never know if Mookie had any desire or intention of re-signing with the Red Sox.
Excellent points Dorothy. To me, it’s almost like Cashman has worked with the thought being an enlarged CBT threshold will exist post ’21, if the CBT exists at all. I hope it stays and doesn’t go up much; I want to see how some clubs bail water from the boat.
Agreed Dorothy. I expect Torres to be gone, as well as Sanchez. And good riddance to Sanchez. Judge, hopefully, won’t be as expensive to keep considering his age. Though that will be about the time Dominguez should be about to come up if all goes well and maybe they will be less inclined to keep an oft injured redundancy like Judge around. Lots of questions coming in the next couple of years.
Betts did not want to be in Boston. The Sox tried to sign him to an extension every yr.
… casual acceptance, jmi1950. Casual.
I would rather have 400 million and downs and verdugo. Even just the 400 million.
Peddy is not killing the team. He earned that money n was the face of the Redsox along with Ortiz. They will never release him or buy him out with a retirement, he’s meant too much the team fir many yrs. Ppl forget how important he was. If not for Machado he would still be playing. I have NP at all with Peddy loved him as a player and more players should have his work ethics.
a Henry issue. He should have told DD where the payroll is going,
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Any owner that tells his GM where to spend the money is an idiot. I have never seen that work in any sport. It is cringe-worthy when I see owners pretending that they know how to run the team.
IRT Betts, he was gone anyway. Great player, possible HOF, but he didn’t want to stay. I have no problem with that and wish him the best.
The Sox reset it this past season. The question is how close are they to try to steal another title like in 13? If the team again sucks, AO, Barnes and whomever else they can move will be sent packing in July.
Excuse for being stupid but didn’t we already reset the cap “Joe Says” ?
As someone else pointed out, they did get below last year but they still should stay under if they aren’t going to be in real contention for the WS.
they still should stay under if they aren’t going to be in real contention
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This is another no-brainer, imo. Some folks think we should blow up the cap for no other reason than to blow it up. The reset doesn’t last forever. You get to break the cap for 2-3 years before it gets expensive.
If we’re in 1st in July, I am all for blowing up the cap. If are in 4th, I am all for trading off s/t bits and pieces like we did in 2020.
What’s bizarre is fans want the Redsox to go over the tax and cripple their franchise further and for longer.
I love the astute fans that think the RS payroll and the TB payroll are equivalent.
$rbac
Once they trade Beni they will be good with the luxury tax
Not a Sawx fan at all but if they go over 1 year after trading Betts+Price because of the luxury tax… that’s bad optics
The RS won’t overcome the “bad optics” of not resigning and trading Betts until they get into the playoffs again.
Agreed. Bad optics and no plan.
Penalties for one year are minimal. The reason to avoid it though is why again start the over the tax merry go round as once you get on it, it’s hard to get off.
The real sad thing is they won the title without the long term CBT issues. But they went extension heavy right after the title as if they had no idea Mookie was a FA in two years. Mookie was pretty upfront what his price was, and he signed for that same price in LA. They knew the number, they just never planned to meet it. It’s on ownership at the end of the day, they signed off on DD signing the extensions
Again as an outsider, it’s pretty terrifying how good Boston could have been with a bit more long term outlook after 2018
Lurking, I agree with your ownership comment but Mookie to me wasn’t resigning and as another mentioned, took an incredible during COVID offer as he realized as good as he is, even clubs that “should” have been able to afford him was in a cash bind.
The sad part about Mookie wanting out is what’s wrong with the Red Sox. No hometown, loved star should want out unless there are issues with ownership and his perception of how he was treated. Obviously there was no real desire to get to free agency since he signed quickly with LAD. All we can guess is something in the the ownership/player relationship was terribly wrong. LAD gave the $65M bonus in 2020 that radically upped the value of the contract thanks to the time value of money. Mookie did extremely well, LAD had the cash flow to pay the big bucks in 2020 and smooth the numbers out to lower the AAV to $30.4M rather than a contract closer to Arenado’s or Trout’s in AAV. The Red Sox could have done the same but a player with Mookie’s talent doesn’t need to put up with bad behavior by ownership, whether it was towards him, his family or other minority players in the organization. The Red Sox can hire Alex Cora and Bianca Smith and it still doesn’t make them an organization that believes in diversity. If they did, Mookie wouldn’t have left and Price wouldn’t have been run out of town. The disaster that is the Red Sox is on the ownership group. It had nothing to do with money because they accumulated profits during the 2010s that were so enormous it’s ridiculous to suggest that paying a $10M luxury tax fee FORCED anything!!
It’s easy to say they over-spent after the World Series in 2018 because hind sight is 2020 but at the time it made sense overall but there were a couple of key mistakes:
1 – Sale wasn’t a mistake. You always pay elite players and nothing in Sale’s history refute his elite status. At the end of each year, his numbers were elite. If the were off the charts until the all-star break and close to normal the last two months, you still evaluate on the full year which was elite.
2 – Eovaldi got offered CLOSER money BUT he was making $2M a year and jumped to $17M. That’s too big of a one year jump despite his heroic efforts in the playoffs. That contract should have been for less but the 3 year window made sense since DD had planned on continual winning through the 2022 season. Nobody predicts injuries when planning for the future. Losing Sale would hurt any contender’s chances of winning. DD’s actions were based on a healthy Sale.
3 – Pearce got too much thanks to Cora. The idiot manager stuck him in the 3 hole one day when he gave JD a breather and he played well beyond his abilities. Cora, the fool that he is, thought it was his magic touch that had found something so he kept him in the 3 hole and destroyed JD’s last two months. JD is a creature of habit so changing the line-up was not a smart move. The team played well enough to overcome the stupidity but in the end, Pearce’s opportunity to hit in the best slot in baseball over-inflated his numbers and DD had to pay the man to keep the hero of the world series. Had that been JD, the Pearce signing probably doesn’t happen or is significantly less.
So, Boston destroyed it’s own future by having owners who alienated a generational player, by hiring a cheater, then rehiring a cheater to prove they believed in diversity despite their actions with Mookie and Price. They also hired a small market GM from a prestigious college who works better with the media than his predecessor but has never managed a payroll over $100M and has never acquired a big name player. These are two critical skills that DD had and Bloom doesn’t have.
The huge hole the Red Sox are in was dug by ownership and their new approach to winning. They got sold on the theory of sustainability but they didn’t know the sustainability was not related to winning, it was related to a lower level of spending and an average ability for their team to compete. They passed on the model that DD brought which works and chose the model that so many spotlight teams have used that give them notoriety for their farm system but no rings. Heck, it’s unlikely LAD wins a ring without Bloom’s gift to his mentor. They bought sustainability with their contract to Mookie. Boston could have achieved the same great future but chose not to.
Toronto is now following the established path to winning. It will be fun to see them surpass the Yankees and beat the Dodgers in the world series.
Bringing back JBJ is a silly move. Give the starting OF reigns to Verdugo, Benintendi, and Renfroe. Hernandez and Chavis can also see time out there and Duran could be up at some point into 2021 or 2022.
No worries, with all the interest JBJ is getting I really don’t see him returning to Fenway
Defense brings championships. Always has. People always remember Brooks Robinson and Craig Nettles for their WS greatness. AB will always be remembered for his game ending catch with Houston and to me Mookie in a Sox uniform will be etched in my head for his great WS throw. JBJ has done it all in the field and makes others around him better.
JBJ can’t hit – .239 career BA. People are eager to overlook that detail – why?
Because he can hit RHP. Can’t hit LHP.
Because the game has changed. JBJ had some big playoff moments (nine RBIs in 18 I recall) and his glove is just so spectacular.
He hit lefties last year in a smaller than usual sample size.
They didn’t trade Mookie to come back over the CBT. Despite their protestations to the contrary, they’ve moved on from JBJ. Unless he signs for a couple mil. Ain’t happening
dan55 – For somebody with Ottavino’s credentials the price is in line and they get a young arm who may or may not work out. The Sox need bullpen help. If they’re not contending they can trade him at the deadline.
The Sox weren’t looking at helping the Yanks. They were looking at helping themselves.
I think think they did. So did the Yankees. If Boston wouldn’t have done it then another team would have. . If the Sox aren’t looking at contending this year it makes more sense.
I wish Ottavino well, just as long as he gets lit up when he faces the Yankees. It’s a shame his tenure here had to end so abruptly but it was time to move on
Here’s hoping that the Jays destroy his ERA again this year
The Red Sox having a payroll north of $200 mil while also looking like a sub .500 team is quite funny to me
The Red Sox are paying Ottavino, Perez, Hernandez and Richards the same amount of money as Mookie will make in 2021. Great job Bloom!
Oh, was Mookie open to a 1 year deal for that much $? I missed that headline.
Franchise icons typically take longer than 1 year to sign
Just because bloom had to make the trade, doesn’t mean he made the bed
Where was the better deal that wasn’t made? Even with the hype of rumors, I believe AV is the real deal and from what others in the know say, Downs will be a valuable starter at second before long. Wong? Who knows but given it was just one year, who was offering offer.
At the deadline with LAD, ATL and SD fighting for superiority in the NL was the time to deal Mookie because ownership pissed him off so badly he refused to stay. JULY would have maximized his value in a trade..
Verdugo is a Benintendi level player who may continue to grow but isn’t likely to be a perennial all-star like Betts.
Downs has already dropped 30 spots in the rankings since everyone has seen he only had 12 excellent games in the minors but played 289. The fact that they were the last 12 of 2019 shouldn’t jump a prospect from obscurity to 44 on the MLB prospect list. His value has already peaked. Once he faces good pitchers at AA he’ll fall out of the top 100.
Wong was so far down the catcher depth chart in LAD system that you couldn’t see him! He has an upside of a back-up catcher at best at the MLB level. Is that really better than the other catchers the Red Sox already had in their farm system? Is depth for the sake of depth the goal or is quality depth the goal? If the prospect isn’t likely to start on the MLB team eventually are they really worth anything? NO.
Verdugo’s five controllable years were the only value that the Red Sox received in the deal for Mookie and Price. At the deadline, with 3 or more suitors the Red Sox might have gotten the star young pitcher they needed instead of a decent right field replacement who will peak while the team sucks.. Losing Mookie was a five year set back that Bloom should have identified and consequently gone for a stud minor league player who didn’t have his controllable years exposed yet. He screwed up. He needed to focus on guys who were outstanding pitchers who would start their controllable clocks in a few years like Bryan Mata. LAD, ATL and SD are loaded with those type of players. Getting two for Betts would have made more sense than Verdugo. The Red Sox won’t compete for years so Verdugo’s controllable years are wasted.
The Betts/Price deal will be looked at for the next century as the worst deal since Babe Ruth.
This is all about spin, sounds like fake news to me!
That might be a fact, but there’s no way to be certain he would be on the Red Sox in 2021 so there’s that.
If you think Mookie was resigning here you are delusional. He was always going to get to free agency. It was just the timing of the pandemic that made him reconsider that the even bigger $$$ where not going to be there. So instead of Verdugo, Downs etc. you’d have a draft pick and David Price and a luxury tax problem.
That’s just not true. Mookie told them his number, over 350. They supposedly never crossed 300M
The dodgers went to that number, and signed him long term. He wanted 420 total million starting in 2018. Take his 19+20 salaries out, and it’s really really close to the 380M total he got from LA. Boston thought he was worth the same deal Machado got. Cmon that’s a joke
I’m not sure where you are getting your info — but it flat out wrong. NBC sports Boston reported in 10/2020 that the Sox offered Mookie north of 350M and he turned it down because he didn’t want to play here. Period. The Red Sox spun it that they couldn’t meet his price of 420M/12. In essence they’d rather look cheap than unwanted. There isn’t any player who is worth crippling an originations payroll for 12 years – least of all a player who’s talents are predicated on speed – like Mookie. I love the player, but you’re kidding yourself if you thought he’d resign. He was never going to be resign and now dumping it all on Bloom just ignores all the efforts they made in the years leading up to the trade to get him to re-up.
That’s where you’re wrong. They offered him the AAV and everything else he wanted just didn’t give him 12 years. If he wanted to be in Boston he wouldn’t have bitched over 2 years
IF in fact Mookie didn’t want to be in Boston fans need to ask why? Could it be their diversity issues? They dumped their best two black players so to make up for it they hire Bianca Smith and even let a two time cheater like Cora back. They couldn’t keep their face of the franchise because he knew he could find owners that respected him so instead they try to cover up the issue by hiring people they can sell as their new stance on diversity. What a sham!!! They should be embarrassed at the poor slight of hand they attempted.
Mookie should have been in Boston for his whole career but Ownership/Player relations were not good. LAD proved that it wasn’t about free agency for Mookie, he just wanted fair pay and respect and LAD gave him both. It made perfect sense for him to take their deal and the Red Sox if they hadn’t botched the relationship could have done the same thing that LA did because in the long run both organizations have plenty of money..
The Red Sox should have taken their profits since 2004 and banked them for a time when they might need them. 2020 was that year and instead the ownership group went cheap. Yes they saved themselves money and cost the fans a product worth watching. There is NOBODY to blame other than the Red Sox ownership for the nightmare that is the Red Sox of 2020, 2021 and going forward until they open their pocket books again and hire a big market GM to find TALENT. No team has won a ring using Bloom’s approach. Many have won using DD’s approach. As a fan, I prefer that the team I follow wins without cheating. So if Bloom and Cora get canned and the owners start competing again fans will return. Otherwise, the only people in the stands will be the loyal supporters of individuals they love and the institution that has fallen on it’s face.
On another note, the deal to take the Red Sox public and sell shares to any interested parties has fallen through. They’ll probably swing back and try to market the team to a consortium of investors. Not bad for buying them for 380 million in 2002. Estimated worth is 3.3 billion.
I think people are underselling the Redsox here… this isn’t a bad team . That 2020 season was such an outlier they were literally throwing guys like Hall, Hart, Godley, and Brewer out there to start games… it was a perfect storm to tank for 60 games.
But looking forward? I’m not sure how a team with Bogaerts, Devers, Verdugo, Martinez, Sale, Eovaldi, Erod, Richards, Ottavino, etc can be bad. Miss the playoffs? Maybe. But this looks at least like competitive team. Dare I say, If things go well, maybe they sneak a wild card spot.
with a bit of health they might be better, but they’re probably treading water at best. being simply okay does nothing for their long term future.
I disagree with this. This isn’t the Nba were tanking is the best avenue to contend. They are building for the future, but want to stay competitive in the meantime.
It’s a lot easier to build up a .500 team than it is to build up a bad team. If One major thing goes there way (Let say Dalbec is the new Judge or Houck the new Severino) they are legit title contenders.
They have a pretty nice base line of talent. Bogaerts, Devers, Verdugo, and Sale is better then most teams core. It makes sense for them to build up depth and hope one of the high upside/high risk guys pops, as opposed to just blowing everything up.
Being bad makes sense for a team like the pirates that didn’t have a single player better than average let alone a stud. Sox are stuck with Sale, Pedroia and JDM so might as well compete. They have a core of good hitters in their prime. I am interested if bloom brings the tampa way with him and trades devers and bogarts with 2 years left.
Mike244 – Love the optimism but think about what building up depth in the minors brings you. Nothing immediately. Also, lets evaluate the strategy as a whole. The Red Sox promoted 17 players from 2013 to 2020 from their minors which suggests the performance of the minors was better than nearly every team in baseball. That can only be said if the players promoted actually started and contributed towards winning a ring. Bogaerts, Benny, Betts, Devers, Vazquez, Chavis, JBJ, to name a few were all starters. In fact, the 2018 team had Red Sox farm hands playing 3B, SS, 2B, LF, CF and RF. Not bad for such a bad farm system.
So why were the Red Sox bad in 2019? Lack of talent? NO. The team was in it’s prime and DD had targeted a run through 2022. The 2019 team failed thanks to Cora’s Spring Training mistake, his bad managing and the many injuries suffered in 2019. Did the players fall back a bit after career years in 2018? Yes. What does one expect after the fall back? A rebound! 2020 should have been a rebound year but Cora and ownership mishandled Sale’s injury so rather than missing only 2020 he’s going to miss both 2020 and half 2021. That’s the main reason Boston has been bad. Sale is the foundation of their pitching staff and has been injured. The Red Sox #2 pitcher got hurt, David Price, and his large contract made him an albatross to the the payroll. Expectations in LA are that Price will do very well in 2021 just like he would have in Boston. To pay LAD $16M a year to watch him do well was a monster mistake. Again, it’s only money and the war chest should have been full from the many years of huge profits. Taking a one year hit should have been acceptable but wasn’t and now the fans are paying for it.
Can this team come back in 2022? Only if Bloom is good at his job which appears to not be the case. Compare the core group from DD to now and we still have Vazquez, Devers, Bogaerts, Benny, and JD. We still have Sale, E-Rod and a couple of relievers like Barnes. What don’t we have? A number 2 pitcher. A true closer but Ottavino is better than what we had in 2018 for set-up pitchers. We also have Verdugo not Mookie which is a huge step down considering Mookie just won a MVP.
So the hitting is down significantly, the defense is down significantly, the power is up thanks to Renfroe, the Starting staff is far worse without Sale but with Sale it’s still below the 2018 team. The bullpen might be slightly better now but nobody would classify it as good.
Is that really the team you think will win something? Consider the fact that the Yankees didn’t stop spending and have more talented hitting just like in 2018 so to win we need them to repeat their injuries and maybe not come up with so many out of nowhere replacements that do well. The Blue Jays are light years better than 2018 and superior to the Red Sox on paper. The Rays lost Snell but are comparable to the 2018 Rays. And Baltimore is better than the pathetic Orioles of 2018. The Red Sox play 76 games in their division and they are the fourth best team. A thing or two going right won’t close that gap. TALENT closes gaps and Bloom hasn’t acquired any.
Think about this… as the fourth best team in the division if the Red Sox got lucky and played .500 ball in the division that would be 38 wins so to make the playoffs the would need close to 50 wins out of the 86 games outside the division. That’s a much higher winning percentage than seems obtainable against the rest of baseball.
Without an infusion of talent, high draft picks are the future in Boston.
I think people may be underestimating the Sox. I know there are a lot of ifs, but if E Rod gets back to form, J D gets back to being the hitter he has always been, Bogaerts and Devers continue to improve, Sale comes back in July as Chris Sale, the Sox have a lot of pluses there. Add Verdugo, Vazquez, and Daubach and the offense is quite good. While not saying much, the pitching will be better than last year.
A lot of haters and losers are counting them out based on last season. Their pitching isn’t that great but it’s still better than whoever the blue jays are putting on the mound. I say 84-88 wins for the Sox, finishing a couple games out of second.
its just dangerous to expect most of those things. I’d imagine several can happen and I think they could even challenge for 3rd in the division, but I still dont see them beating out NYY or TOR.
Are the bringing back the Bellvile Basher (Daubach)? He was certainly a fan favorite!
Seeing how he’s about to turn 49 i would hope not, his bat might be a little slow…
I believe Bloom is adding in short-term pieces that have upside. Richards and Ottavino are two of them. They might go bust, but they could both help the Sox significantly if they are healthy and return to form. There’s reason to believe they can in both cases.
Under no circumstance should they go over the luxury tax threshold this season, unless all the stars align and they’re leading the division and they want to add an impact player at the deadline who might bring them a championship. Short of that, spend up to the line to be good, but don’t go over, because then the penalties start rising again. Wait until they’re in their next win-now mode. That’s when you go over the luxury tax.
Bloom added a piece in Ottavino who might be able to help this year, and he also added in a decent prospect as they look to restock the farm. All it cost was some money. That to me should be viewed as a win by Red Sox fans. And, no, I’m not a delusional Red Sox fan. I’m a delusional Yankee fan! I think the Red Sox have the potential to be at least annoyingly good this year if a couple things break right.
With some money coming off the books after this season and all of the 1 year deals Bloom signed this year, the Sox should not even blink an eye at going over the CBT this year. If they go over by $20M, they’d have to pay $4M in penalties, that’s it! No draft pick slot losses, no IFA pool reductions. They needed to reset last year because it would have been their 3rd year in a row and that’s when the penalties really start to hurt, both in the pocketbook and in the draft. If they go over this year, it will be easy to duck back below next season. 2023 is the big year where $50M+ will be coming off the books in Eovaldi, Price & JDM as well.
The issue is that, if they go over this season, then that is one season lost on the tail end, when they need to reset.
Despite what the fearful foursome said, there is every chance we outspend Tampa, and indeed go over the cap. But I would think they would only do that if they were in 1st at the trade deadline.
OVER THE CAP? with Bloom. That’s a contradiction in philosophy. As long as Bloom sits in a Red Sox office, the cap will not be exceeded. If it was it would make ownership look even more foolish for losing Mookie and Price. Remember they argued that AUSTERITY was necessary and their new approach under Bloom.
Either the owner’s took their cargo ship full of profits from the last 20 years of winning and spent it at the track or they are simply holding on to it for a rainy day. The ownership, just like the Yankee ownership, could spend $300M in a normal year and still make a profit. You have to be terribly gullible to think money had anything to do with Mookie leaving.
Too much time is devoted to the ineffective luxury tax. The Yankees spent enough in 2020 that if it wasn’t for COVID they would have beat the Red Sox biggest spending year by $50M. Yes, in 2020 the Yankees would have been 20% higher than Boston’s greatest spending. The luxury tax means nothing to the Yankees. The luxury tax means nothing to LAD. If they need to go over to win they will. The Red Sox under DD competed with those teams.
Now, the Bloom led Red Sox are trying to fix the soil in hopes of growing sustainable and much longer grass. That grass won’t be grown for a half decade so until then the marketing department needs to put out spins on the situation. “Give Bloom time”, “SUSTAINABILITY”, “VERDUGO is a top prospect”, “DOWNS is a top prospect”. All these press releases about the great future in Boston are fools gold. Verdugo will never by Mookie a man who should be here except for the mistakes made by ownership. Downs isn’t a top prospect, he’s a hyped prospect thanks to Friedman. 12 good games isn’t enough to jump from obscurity to 40th in the prospect list. The Red Sox are more than one year into the sustainability slogan and so far I think it’s correct. The Red Sox will sustain early draft picks during the next several years. The first chance they will have to win beyond 81 games is when Sale is fully healthy. The team before Mookie and Price were jettisoned was a playoff team if Sale was the only injury. The current team without Sale is lucky to not finish behind Baltimore.
Will the Red Sox maintaining an upside of .500 for 2021, why would they go over the cap? Let’s hope not. That would be an incredibly stupid waste of resources. The very resources that justified the departure of Mookie and Price!!!
KD172 days ago
OVER THE CAP? with Bloom. That’s a contradiction in philosophy. As long as Bloom sits in a Red Sox office, the cap will not be exceeded.
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The one that decides how to spend Henry’s money, is actually Henry, not his employees.
Henry hired Bloom. He already declared there would be no going over by hiring a small market guy with no experience at going over. Why is that so hard for you to accept?
Also, Bloom talks out of both sides of his mouth. He doesn’t want an uprising by the fans so he says there is no specific instruction not to exceed. That a political answer not a yes!! He avoided saying we will go over if I choose to or I am forced to by my puppet master. Why would they go over? To win 66 games instead of 65?
Henry hired Bloom. He already declared there would be no going over by hiring a small market guy with no experience at going over. Why is that so hard for you to accept?
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We are already at the cap. Why is it so hard for you to admit that you were 100% wrong in your assessment?
Just like you are likely to be wrong about “70 wins is aggressive.”.
Admitting when you are wrong is the first step in learning.
This should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway. Wrong happens after an event not before. The Red Sox have yet to exceed the cap and can trade players to make sure they stay below. There is no win total right now so again right and wrong can’t be determined but the win total projected by me would give Bloom the flexibility to sell as the season goes on and that keeps him under the cap. You proclaim to be this brilliant baseball guy yet the obvious seems to escape you.
Maybe you should use your expertise to calculate how well the Red Sox will do against the Yankees, Toronto, Tampa Bay and Baltimore. Again, that makes up 76 of the 162 games. Based on rosters alone with the terrible starting pitching the Red Sox will have (especially if Sale arrives after May and E-Rod relapses from his very serious heart condition), the Yankees should have no trouble winning 13 or 19 from Boston. Toronto should have no trouble winning 11 of 19 from Boston and TB the same. In 3 season series the Red Sox will accumulate at least 35 losses and if things go badly that number could grow to 44 losses. Baltimore will add another 9 losses. So, with a minimum of 44 losses in division (32 Wins) the Red Sox will need to win 49 games against the other 15 teams they play including ATL(4), NYM(4), PHI(6), WAS(3), MIA(3) plus the AL Central with CHI(7), MIN(7), CLE(6), DET(6) and KC(7) and then the AL West HOU(7), SEA(7), TEX(7), OAK(6) and LAA(6).
81 is your prediction and outside the division that means winning 49/86 or 57% of their games against excellent teams like the Braves, Mets, Phillies, Nationals White Sox, Twins, Indians, Astros, As, Angels and Seattle. Sure having a winning record is possible against DET, KC, TEX and MIA but that’s only 4 of the 15 teams they play outside their division.
The numbers don’t support your beliefs but anything is possible. The problem is anything isn’t probable!! A sub .500 season is very probable.
This should be obvious but I’ll say it anyway. Wrong happens after an event not before. The Red Sox have yet to exceed the cap and can trade players to make sure they stay below.
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Where you were wrong was calling Bloom cheap. I told you at the time:
1-Bloom doesn’t create the budget.
2-The RS were going to spend to the cap.
You were so obviously wrong that it does even merit me telling you ‘I told you so’. Heck, you might be one of three people in the entire country that didn’t know that.
IRT to exceeding the cap, that is only suggested as a possibility. If they are in 1st at the trade deadline, they are likely to go over.
The numbers don’t support your beliefs but anything is possible. The problem is anything isn’t probable!! A sub .500 season is very probable.
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What was it that Buffet said? The difference between a conversation, and a commitment, was a check?
The one thing I respect about any of your opinions, is that you are smart to not try to back up a bad opinion with a bad bet. I had a pool bet once, like 40 years ago. It was only $10, which even then wasn’t a huge amount of money. but more importantly, the loser had to pay for the table. The other guy had no chance, but I got to practice my tough shots for about 90 minutes, with him picking up the tab, and me pocketing $10.
At least you’re smart enough to know that your opinion is most likely drivel.
You are so lost in your discussions. Bloom doesn’t create the budget? Who are you arguing with. I didn’t say that. The RS were going to spend to the cap? That also doesn’t relate to anything I said. You may want to slow down on the beers, your writing are becoming incoherent.
You keep talking like things you said have come true. Did they finish with 81 wins yet? NOPE Did they spend over the cap in 2021? NOPE. How do you figure “I told you so” is appropriate when it hasn’t happened yet? Seriously, your mind is very messed up from a time continuum perspective.
Lastly, you justify that they are going over because if they are in first they are likely to go over? Wake up. You are dreaming!! First? Seriously? If the ownership of the Red Sox intended to exceed the Luxury Tax in the future they would not have fired DD and hired Bloom. Bloom has no experience at it and DD is the best in baseball at it. They hired Bloom to stay below the cap. It’s just that simple and it’s obvious to most baseball fans.
Right when I thought your incoherence had peaked you write this latest comment. A Jimmy Buffet reference or should I say an attempted reference that has nothing to do with anything we are talking about. Nice.
A bet reference from 40 years ago that makes no sense. Nice.
A conclusion about me that is absolutely false but somehow in your mind you created it as true and complimented me on thinking my opinion may be drivel? Seriously? You need to stop drinking before you write.
Give your liver a break and gather your thoughts and try to write something that doesn’t embarrass you. I’m uncomfortable reading your comments because I’m embarrassed for you. They are incoherent and they seem like a lonely person’s attempt to maintain a dialogue through obnoxious banter.
Think baseball for 10 minutes and put your best guess at each of the Red Sox 19 series in 2021. You might have an epiphany and realize 2021 will be a disaster once you add up the wins.
Bloom doesn’t create the budget? Who are you arguing with. I didn’t say that.
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You said:
“As long as Bloom sits in a Red Sox office, the cap will not be exceeded”
Does that not imply that Bloom is setting the budget? And with your previous 100 posts about Bloom being cheap? Sorry dude, but this is not your era. Stuff that goes on the internet, stays on the internet.
A Jimmy Buffet reference
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ROTFLMAO!
That’s not a Jimmy Buffet reference, you stoney. It is a Warren Buffet reference (although he was paraphrasing someone from the 1940s with his quote).
Dude, if you don’t know who Warren Buffet is, or can’t tell the difference between Jimmy Buffet and and Warrent Buffet, you need to get out of your basement more often.
Confusing the two might be more entertaining than when yousaid the RS shouldn’t get JBJ because they can find someone with a better fielding percentage.
Thanks for another laugh.
And let me know if/when you have the stones to back up you opinion with an honor wager.
Red Sox want commitments of reasonably priced upside to trade for prospects to build up their system. Ottavino is nicely a guy they can use to prop up their bullpen while they scuttle it for parts or bring a nice piece back if the demand is there (see Trevor Rosenthal to Padres trade).
Then Bloom is probably looking to move JD Martinez. There is an option that likely depends on this season’s performance. It may be an Edwin Encarnacion-like Seattle to Yanks mid-year deal to pick up something and save a lot of money.
While the plan is to avoid the tax, that’s not a firm mandate, Bloom noted
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I noticed that the whiners that said the RS were TB-North, have disappeared like a fart in the wind.
I normally would say ‘I told you so’, but it was so obvious, it would be hard for anyone to miss.
JoeBrady – Trolling the Red Sox site again. Go back to the Yankee site.
1-I don’t visit Yankee sites.
2-This is not a Red Sox site.
I thought #2 would be blazingly obvious.
Based on the baseball content of your comments you should be on the Yankee site.
Try going up to TEAMS and select Red Sox. See what comes up. I shouldn’t have to explain such simple things to you.
And what did I say that sounds like pro-Yankee? I probably hate the NYY as much you hate the RS.
However, I have no interest in simply posting that everything they do is wrong. When Cash makes a move I like, I acknowledge it.
There is no danger in going over the first luxury tax level this year and paying a piddling tax on the overage. The real financial penalty is in going over three years in a row, and people have to understand this as to why the Betts/Price move was necessary to stave off the third year penalty–Alex Speier’s article last year explained how going over CBT tax levels three years in a row can cost a club almost $90MM in additional money that the team pays to the league, at least part of which is redistributed among the alleged have-nots. The money hits ownership hard, but has no implications for the payroll, so fans don’t see it. Passing a CBT level isn’t just a simple matter of paying a percentage “tax” on the amount the club goes over the line. It’s more than that, much more if it happens three years in a row.
You’ve got a nails on assessment, and while I don’t have a Globe subscription, I’m sure Speier does too, He’s always on top of this stuff (given that he’s on the team’s payroll).
Just a tough pill to swallow that they “needed” to get under the luxury tax last year (and in doing so trade away a generational talent who then went on to finish top 3 in the MVP, win a WS, and sign a long term deal almost instantaneously).
Now they’re seemingly willing to go over the lux tax (while helping the yankees stay under it) and haven’t seemingly done much to upgrade the onfield product.
I’ll say this for Chaim, he’s taking a lot of big swings, Especially in the draft and in trades. Let’s see if they pay off. We’ll remember.
Pedroia is still killing this team. This will be the 4th year he has not played. Give him a job in the organization but for God’s Sake get him off the payroll already. I cannot believe that we are that close to the luxury tax threshold and I look at this team and see last place on it
They can cut Pedey this year or he could retire but his full salary will still count against the CBT regardless. The only way for the Sox to save any CBT monies would be if Pedey agrees to a buyout lower than the salary owed to him, but why would he do that? He earned that money and had he not been hit with a dirty slide he may still very well be their starting second baseman. With that said, it would be nice for Pedroia to retire so they can open up his spot on the 40-man roster and use it to add Richards or Kiké and not have to put a player through waivers. That is the real value.
If JBJ’s asking price falls to about $5-7 million for a one year deal the Sox will be interested. Untill then it’s all lip service
Why spend $5M on JBJ when there are dozens of guys who hit better and have a close enough fielding percentage that paying them $1M or less makes far more sense. JBJ for $1M may sound like a low ball price but if comps suggest it’s right then the market should be $1M.
Remember, every team in the league has a starting and back-up center fielder plus depth in their minors. That makes for a huge player pool that can hit better than JBJ. so If their defense is league average then Boston spend the $1M or less and save the money for pitching.
KD172 days ago
Why spend $5M on JBJ when there are dozens of guys who hit better and have a close enough fielding percentage
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You’re judging a CF on fielding %? Well, at least I know now not to take you seriously.
You must be a very happy guy JoeBrady. Ignorance is bliss!!
Stop commenting like a moron and say something of substance.
Let me know when you are going to put your money where your mouth is. Your type of person is always the most entertaining. You can talk all day, but as soon as you are challenged, you fold like a cheap suit.
You posted “70 wins is aggressive.”, and when I said they’d win at least 81, and offered to back it up, all your bravado disappeared like a fart in the wind.
Let me know when you want to challenge me again. Your ‘opinions’ are a joke.
Re-write history much. I countered with a TRUE baseball bet that takes baseball knowledge not a gamblers bet any moron could make. You chicken out as expected. You are the big talker. I put the detail on the website for all to see. No punches pulled. If you think I’m wrong put your prediction by series on the website so guys like you can’t chime in with a bunch of crap like you do.
I stand by my series by series predictions. 19 series will produce a 4th or 5th place finish in the division, less than 81 wins and a high draft pick in 2022. Only shot of that not happening is if Sale gets back in early May and is the old Sale. If that happens each series has a chance of 1 more win so 81 is possible, a long shot but possible. The playoffs? Not gonna happen in 2021. Maybe not in 2022 if Boston keeps Bloom and Cora.
My opinion on 2020 Red Sox wins missed by 1 game. That’s more accurate than ANYTHING you’ve ever written. Go back to your Yankee site. I’m sure trolling isn’t allowed on this website yet you do it all the time!!
So the Sox are willing to go over the lux tax (while helping the Yanks duck under it) to add Adam Ottavino? When they’re clearly buried in the AL East next year, and Ottavino is a free agent in 2022. Makes sense.
This German must be quite the arm. Or maybe it’s the first masterstroke from Bloom we’ve all been waiting for?
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The Red Sox won’t be over the luxury tax. Pure stupidity seems to be the new ownership approach but exceeding the cap to finish with 81 wins rather than 65 seems very foolish. It suggests money means nothing but they saved money on Price and Mookie. So which is it ownership?
In 2020 money was significant but in 2021 it’s not and all it cost us was a generational player and our #2 SP? No way they exceed the luxury tax. They got Bloom to ensure that didn’t happen.
With some of the players on the 40 man roster, who we know will not be around much longer, saying Pedroia is killing this team is ridiculous. As Tomase noted, the likes of Mazza, Springs, and Brewer on the roster is just as limiting. What would I give to see a healthy Pedroia? Let me count the ways. Hard nosed, blue collar dirt-dog if there ever was one. He’ll announce his retirement when he’s given up. When he’s ready. When he cannot face the reality any longer. That’s why I love the man. He hasn’t quit yet, and I’m more than ok with it.
The Sox have invested $25 million this year in Hernandez, Ottavino and Richards and I am hard pressed to say they are a better team for it.
All can be spun for prospects at the deadline if they’re out of contention. If they are in contention, all the better.
Just curious. Will the prospects they get for guys like Hernandez, Ottavino and Richards be better than the prospects that currently exist in the minors today? Folks need to remember, the minors is a finite set of players based on the number of minor league teams you have. If your AA team has good players and AAA team has good players the newly acquired players need to be better than the current players or be demoted. With every player added there is a player dropped from a minor league roster. What if the lower level player cut due to picking up a high upside potential player in a trade turns out to be a stud when he moves up in another organization and the player acquired is a dud? Adding prospects no matter how highly touted is a game of risk. Misread the tea leafs and you drop a guy who will be great to keep a more highly ranked player who turns out to be a bust.
Stockpiling talent in the minors is a complete misconception. At best, you upgrade your current talent because you aren’t expanding your rosters. Are guys like Hernandez being traded at the deadline going to upgrade the talent in the minors? Maybe a team desperate for Richards if he pitches well or Ottavino if he bounces back to his career year but more than likely these three adds won’t upgrade our minors much if traded at the deadline.
For all of you worrying abut Red Sox going over salary tax amount of 210 million- remember, if they get under salary tax by end of the season via trades for prospects, player releases, Red Sox would avoid any penalties of monies or Draft Picks.. Get JBJ signed and perhaps even Ozuna for 1 season, and then watch how well Sox will do this coming season..
Not sure JBJ or Ozuna will have to settle for a one year deal – seems like multiple years are on the table. Won’t be Springer money, but it won’t be 1 yr. either.
Ozuna signed 1 YR contract last season with Braves last year, so would be inclined for another 1 YR contract with Sox, especially with CBA expiring at end of this season
Ozuna signed 1 YR contract last season with Braves last year, so would be inclined for another 1 YR contract with Sox, especially with CBA expiring at end of this season
It’s really weird to see JBJ talked about in the same sentence with Ozuna.
The luxury tax is determined later in the season so being over at one point in time can be fixed with later salary dumps.
Why, other than money, would Ozuna want to play in Boston? Wouldn’t he prefer a contender?
Why would Boston want JBJ for anything more than $1M? There are lots of better hitting cheap players who are controllable that could play in 2021 when the Red Sox aren’t contending. Why waste money on JBJ?